Pallas was invited by Catherine the Great to work at the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, and consequently had a tremendous influence the development of science in Russia in the 18th century. Pallas was also responsible for establishing the botanical, zoological and geological collections at St. Petersburg. He was one of the most distinguished naturalists of his time.

Very scarce. Pallas was commissioned for a 5 year exploration of southern Russia (1771-6). This important ethnological work describes Pallas' expedition through various provinces of the Russian empire. Descriptions include the people, towns, plants, animals, and mineral resources. The plates show plants, people, animals and maps of the trip.
In 1767 Pallas was invited by Catherine II to work at the S:t Petersburg Academy of Sciences.. During his first years (in Russia) he studied nature and the peoples of the.. empire, participating in the Academic expeditions of 1768-1774. His research as leader of the first Orenburg detachment of the expeditions covered both Russia and Asia. Pallas and his companions journeyed from S:t Petersburg to Moscow; crossed the Volga at Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk); and explored the Zhiguli Mountains and the southern Urals, the steppes of western Siberia and the Altay, Lake Baikal, and the mountains of Transbaikalia. The easternmost regions visited were the basins of the Shika and Argun rivers. On his way back to S:t Petersburg, Pallas studied the Caspain depression and the lower reaches of the Volga . (DSB, 10, p. 283).
Cox I, p. 199: ""Pallas was one of the savants chosen by the St. Petersburg Academy to carry on the work of examining the resources of the far distant parts of the Russian Empire. He left St. Petersburg in 1768 and spent a full six years investigating various districts of Siberia, the Urals, the Caspian, Tobolsk, Lake Baikal, the Lower Volga, etc. His reports on the geology, fauna, and flora are of great scientific value. "" His journey extended to the frontiers of China. ""Few explorations have been as fruitful as this six years' journey"" (Ency. Brit.).

Scarce. French translation from the German original (1771-76); the atlas is taken from the enlarged 8vo edition. Pallas' expedition which took him six years to complete, proved to be one of the richest of the whole century regarding scientific results, being considerable importance for the ethnology, geography, linguistics, botany, zoology, and geology of Asia, especially Siberia. More than half the plates show plants; among the maps is the fine large one of the Russian Empire, measuring 57 x 127 cm.
This French translation contains, in addition to the narrative, the natural history results of the expedition which were not included in the first German edition.
Significant work on RUSSIA at the time of the large Catherine, translated from the German by Gauthier of Peyronie, clerk of the Foreign Affairs. "… VOYAGE undertaken by 7 Russian astronomers and geometricians having for goal the observation of the Venus passage on the solar disc. Catherine II considered it necessary to send with them 5 naturalists capablent to explore a still unknown country. The voyage lasted 6 long years during which, the course of Laïk, the edges of the Caspian Sea, the lake Baïkal to the Chinese border was explored. Forwarding returned overpowered sufferings, continuation of a so painful course. Almost none of his/her companions lived long enough to give him even its relation and it was Pallas which redoubled activity to return this care to their memory by this great work made up according to the manuscripts communicated by the unit of the participants in this exceptional scientific voyage which contains exact observations and facts interesting and curious on the natural History, the Minerals, Botany, physics, Astronomy and all that relates to Manners, the Uses, the habits, the Religions, the languages, the Traditions, the Monuments and Antiquities, etc… " (universal Biography of Michaud. - Quérard, "Literary France" T-vi.569. - Nissen, 3076; To stop from Richarderie, II, 10; Monglond, III, the 166.) Atlas is "QUITE COMPLETE" of its boards as well as very large extendible chart (1,23m X 0,60m) of "the Empire of Russia" which often misses. Uniform binding of the time, full calf for five volumes of text, in half-binding for the Atlas. Back with 5 nerves partitioned and blossomed, nets on the dishes, marbrées.(Quelques sections rednesses in the text.) BEAUTIFUL SPECIMEN.

8 vols. of text and one atlas. With 8 title-pages and 8 half-titles, 108 engraved plates and maps, of which 22 folding and 2 double-page.

Very scarce. Second French edition, enlarged by Lamarck and Langles. Pallas' expedition which took him six years to complete, proved to be one of the richest of the whole century regarding the scientific results, being of considerable importance for the ethnology, geography, linguistics, botany, zoology and geology of Asia, especially of Siberia. More than half of the plates show plants; among the maps is the fine large one of the Russian Empire, measuring 57x127cm.

13. English, 1802-3 [English transl.].
Travels through the southern provinces of the Russian empire, in the years 1793 and 1794. Tr. from the German of P. S. Pallas ... London, Printed by A. Strahan for T.N. Longman & O. Rees ..., 1802-1803.

Very scarce. Translated by Francis W. Blagdon of Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in die südlichen Statthalterschaften des Russischen Reichs (1799-1801). Handcolored engraved plates and vignettes, mostly by G. Geissler.
A magnificent copy of the first English edition of Pallas's 1793-1794 journey through Russia with illustrations in aquatint. Peter Simon Pallas (Berlin 1741-1811) was an eminent botanist, zoologist and geographer, who travelled through southern Russia, the area of the steppes near the Caspian Sea, the northern Caucasus and the Crimea in 1793-94. In his account, which appeared in German in 1799-1801, he desribed the flora and fauna, landscape, geology, local population, and culture.
The second volume contains the dedication to Czar Alexander.
Cat. Russica P-59.

14. English, 1803 [English transl.].
Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire performed in the years 1793 and 1794 by P.S. Pallas, Councillor of State to the Emperor ... Translated from the German without abridgement, by Francis Blagdon. London, 1803.

15. English, 1812 [English transl.].
Travels through the southern provinces of the Russian Empire, in the years 1793 and 1794 translated from the German of P.S. Pallas. Second edition. London, Printed for John Stockdale, 1812.

Very scarce. Tables on the physical and topographical aspects of the province of Tauride, extracted as a separate publication from the Pallas's Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in die sudlichen Statthalterschaften des russischen Reichs (1799-1802).